Sparrows opens new service centre for winches

Integrity and reliability is a fundamental requirement to ensure safety”, says Richard Wilson, Vice President for Asia Pacific and Middle East operations at Sparrows Offshore Services. “They are, after all, central to the key motions in an offshore crane performing the main boom luffing and hoisting motions and as such must be regularly inspected, maintained and repaired by highly trained and qualified personnel. That is why we have decided to open a Paccar Braden winches service centre at our facility in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi.”

Earlier this year, Sparrows Offshore signed a partnership with Paccar Braden, a well established global brand, appointing them as an official distributor and service centre for the PACCAR winch division and Braden, cargo gearmatic product range. The partnership plugs a gap in the market and allows Sparrows Offshore to deliver a wider scope of crane services to the local marketplace.

This agreement for the Middle East and Persian Gulf follows in the foot steps of the long established relationship between Paccar Braden and Energy Cranes LLC, a sister company of Sparrows, operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Energy Cranes, a renowned crane manufacturer, has installed Paccar Braden winches in their cranes for many years - acquired brands American Aero, Titan Cranes and Houston Systems also favoured Paccar Braden winches before amalgamating into Energy Cranes.

Based in Oklahoma (US), Paccar has a long history in the manufacture of planetary geared winches for cranes and many other hoisting applications and is recognised as the manufacturer of one of the most used planetary gear winches installed in API2C offshore cranes in the US , Middle East and South East Asia. Its boom and auxiliary hoist system winches can be found in cranes operating on offshore oil & gas platforms, drilling rigs, crane barges and marine vessels, not withstanding the multitude of onshore construction equipment applications.

To ensure best in class service to its customers, Sparrows Offshore has set up a purpose-built winch testing facility in accordance with Paccar Braden's technical guidelines to ensure that all repaired products meet high level performance requirements. The test stand is capable of operating the winch at maximum line pulls and typical operating speeds, recording pressure, oil temperature and flow, and also to confirm the load holding capacity of its brake system. Sparrows also maintain strict records on all units sold, repaired or serviced for the life of the unit cared for in the service centre. Buyers can procure whole winches, parts or take advantage of exchange services. Only OEM parts are used and all work is conducted following strict and exacting quality procedures by technicians who have received specialised training at the Braden Gearmatic service training school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma-USA, which is renewed every 5 years.

Richard Wilson continues, "For owners of Paccar Braden winches under warranty or just looking  to guarantee quality, the opening of the Sparrows Service Centre in Abu Dhai will generate great value - previously, equipment had to be shipped further away, causing time delays and incurring shipment costs, or there was a risk of unauthorised and uncertified technicians undertaking maintenance and repair work and quality was never guaranteed."

A decade in the Middle East

This year, Sparrows Offshore Service celebrates 10 successful years operating in the UAE from its Abu Dhabi facility. This anniversary marks a decade of strong growth in the Middle East, from winning a single contract to growing into a multi-million dollar business, spanning the region from Azerbaijan in the North, through the Gulf to Tunisia in the west.

Providing services in one of the harshest work environments in the world, the team have worked almost two million work exposure hours without a single fatality or Lost Time Incident and with only two minor Restricted Work Cases. Fully trained and qualified personnel, working under effective health, safety, environment and quality management systems, led by example from senior management, ensures that safe operations takes top priority.. "Safety in our workforce is a matter of personal responsibility, as it is for the whole company", says Richard Wilson.

2009 is also the tenth year of continuous service to Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA OPCO). Sparrows provides a comprehensive managed crane service to ADMA OPCO, deploying experienced crane maintenance and operation personnel to the Umm Shaif and Zakum Super complexes and to the Al-Hyleh Barge. The Sparrows Offshore crew are responsible for the maintenance, operation and repair of Liebherr, Favco and Unit Mariner cranes  onboard the ADMA OPCO installations, all typical cranes deployed in the region. Similar crane models, including Weatherford cranes, make up the fleet operated by Sparrows Offshore's key client in Dubai, Dubai Petroleum Establishment (formerly DPC). Sparrows Offshore have supplied engineering and crane maintenance personnel to the Fateh complex and associated satellite platforms since 2001. With the addition of clients Arabian Drilling, Total E&P, Transocean Offshore and Pride International, Sparrows collectively inspect and maintain over 110 offshore cranes and supply operators for over 30 machines in the Middle East.

Throughout its global network, Sparrows Offshore provides service and engineering support throughout the entire crane and lifting cycle.  Over the course of ten years the Middle East operation has worked hard on expanding its local service delivery in Abu Dhabi  from just crane maintenance and operation. Introducing the concept of crane condition surveys has provided clients with an accurate assessment of their equipment and allowed them to be advised on ways of saving costs and increasing the reliability and efficiency of their cranes.  The Abu Dhabi facility has also refurbished a fleet of rental cranes, which can be installed, operated, maintained and dismantled by the Sparrows team to meet temporary lifting requirements.  Other key support services include spare parts supply (building on an established and extensive network of key suppliers and OEM manufacturers), crane reconditioning/overhaul, crane replacement and lifting engineering support for more complex and specialist projects.

Since its beginnings in 1973, Sparrows Offshore has provided specialist engineering, management, maintenance, insection, training and operating services to the offshore oil and gas sector around the world. Although its headquarters are in Aberdeen, Scotland, Sparrows Offshore now has 21 operating facilities around the globe - wherever there is a vessel or a platform or a rig, the chances are that Sparrows Offshore has cast an eye over the cranes at some point. Now a founding member of the Energy Cranes International group of companies, Sparrows Offshore is able to tap into the wealth of technical support behind such crane brands as American Aero, Titan Industries, Houston Systems, Weatherford and Bucyrus Erie. Further acquisitions by the group have seen the addition of a specialist provider of hydraulic services, Aberdeen Hydraulics, and a subsea mechanical handling business, Baricon Systems.